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Matt Donovan
Matthew G. "Matt" Donovan is a main character on ''The Vampire Diaries''.'' He is the son of Kelly Donovan. He was born and raised in the town of Mystic Falls. Matt is the ex-boyfriend of both Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert, as well as the brother of Vicki Donovan. After the death of Elena's parents, Elena broke up with Matt because she lost interest in him, although Matt still cares about Elena deeply and they've managed to maintain a good friendship. At the beginning of the series, Matt struggles with his sister, Vicki, because she becomes a vampire but then tragically dies. He begins dating Caroline Forbes and encourages her to become a more caring, kind and selfless young woman. However, Caroline soon breaks up with him after her transition into a vampire. Upon learning about the existence of supernatural creatures, he begins to distance himself from the Mystic Falls Gang, but eventually starts to help his friends defeat enemies that cause terror in their hometown, and also fixes his friendship with Caroline. He also becomes a Medium like Jeremy Gilbert. He began a brief relationship with Rebekah Mikaelson at the end of Season Four, but ended after she had left Mystic Falls. His best friends are Elena Gilbert, Jeremy Gilbert, Tyler Lockwood, and Bonnie Bennett. He is also close friends with Caroline Forbes. '''Matt' is a member of the Donovan Family. History Early History Matt was born in Mystic Falls. He is the son of Kelly Donovan and an unnamed father. He had an older sister, Vicki Donovan. Because Kelly and Miranda Gilbert, who was Elena's adoptive mother, were best friends since high school, Matt knew Elena since infancy, occasionally sharing a crib. They grew up together, being really close childhood friends, and began dating in their teenage years feeling they owed it to themselves to try. When Elena's parents died, she broke up with Matt because she needed time alone to figure out her feelings. Matt still hoped they could be together, but it was not likely to happen due to Elena's instant connection to the new student, Stefan Salvatore. It's something he might still mourn about. Throughout The Vampire Diaries Series |-|Season One= |-|Season Two= 's great relief. Unknowingly to him, Damon had given Caroline blood to help her heal, but when killed her, Caroline became a vampire after drinking blood she found in the hospital. Matt visited her in the hospital, where he found her unhappy. He pulled back the curtains to bring light into the room, put Caroline ran to the shadows. He didn't understand what was happening and left. At the carnival, Caroline told Matt she had been discharged early. He was happy about that when he gave her a hug, she began to act strange again, and he started to believed she was losing interest. He sneaked into her room to talk to her about how she was acting and he admitted that he was in love with her, and was afraid she didn't love him anymore but she proved him wrong by kissing him. They hugged and Caroline was able to resist the urge to bite him. Caroline's inability to go out in the sun put a strain on her relationship with Matt. Stefan convinced Bonnie to help her by creating another Lapis Lazuli jewelry piece. Aimee Bradley started flirting with Matt, annoying Caroline and she compelled her to go away and Matt thought she was being rude. Later on, Caroline asked Matt if he was mad at her and he admitted that he thought they were past her insecurities. He told her how he felt about her and asked what more she needed. Caroline promised that she didn't need anything else and apologized, promising that there will be no more drama. They kissed and headed off into the woods together. They started making out but when Matt cut himself, Caroline lost control and attacked him. Stefan stopped her as a wolf attacked them, but at Tyler's arrival, it left. Caroline then compelled Matt to forget what she did and that an animal attacked him. At the Mystic Grill, Aimee started talking to Matt again. Caroline decided to break up with Matt and made a big deal out of it, forcing him to break up with her. Matt helped out at the Lockwood Mansion for the Masquerade Ball, and discussed with Caroline's strange behavior with Tyler. Later on, is shown compelling Matt to have Tyler kill him at any cost because she needed a werewolf now that Damon had killed . Matt almost breaks a fight with Tyler at the masquerade ball, but Caroline knocks him unconscious before he has the chance to make Tyler kill him. Though he was stopped, another girl, Sara, who was also compelled, attacked Tyler after his failure and died in the process, thus activating his transformation. Afterwards, he is guilt-stricken by what happened, with no memory of being compelled to do so, and apologizes to Tyler. He later drops by Caroline's house to visit her. In The House Guest, Caroline sings to Matt and he kisses her in front of everyone in the Grill. They start making out in the bathroom, but are interrupted by the chaos caused by Jonas Martin. Caroline tries to fight him, but Jonas used his powers on her, Matt tried to save her, and Jonas stabbed him in the neck. As he was lying on the floor dying, Caroline gives him her blood to save him. After he wakes up, Caroline confesses to him that she is a vampire. Matt then remembers Vicki saying something about vampires when she had her accident and thinks that Caroline had something to do with it. In Know Thy Enemy, Matt stays away from Caroline, he meets Sheriff Forbes and demands on how she covered up Vicki's death by the hands of a vampire. He then went to Caroline's house and demanded that she tell him what happened to Vicki and everything about her. After Caroline has told him everything, he tells her that he doesn't want to remember any of it because he doesn't want to look at her and see what she really is. After she compels him it was later revealed to be a setup by Sheriff Forbes to find out the information that Caroline knew of everything on vampires in town. Matt takes Caroline to the 60s Decade Dance under Sheriff Forbes orders, he is still having a hard time being around Caroline due to the fact that he still knows that she is a vampire as well as Tyler being a werewolf. In The Last Day, Matt once again is talking with Sheriff Forbes. He later seems to have a change of heart and calls Caroline supposedly to tell her everything and then follows Damon. He finds Damon at the Tomb and sees him fight with the warlock Maddox. As Damon is losing, Matt kills Maddox using a rifle and wooden bullets afterwards Damon knocks him out. After he wakes up he witness Tyler werewolf transformation and runs with Caroline down in the Lockwood cellar. In The Sun Also Rises, while protecting themselves from Tyler, he and Caroline had an honest talk about what happened. Matt tells her he can't handle the pressure of her supernatural life and just wants to be normal, Caroline is sad but agrees and they officially end their relationship. }} |-|Season Three= |-|Season Four= |-|Season Five= |-|Season Six= Personality Matt is everyone's definition of the "everyday man". Out of the characters, he is the most "normal"; he does not possess any supernatural attribute, nor any supernatural artifact that makes him stand out of the rest of humanity and he wants it to stay that way (at least until he was given the Gilbert Ring previously worn by Jeremy). He is, however, aware of the supernatural world and has more than had his fair share of skirmishes with them in the past. Matt is often seen by some people as a person who only cares about the sport, however, he is just the opposite, Matt is strong because he wants to protect his family and friends from the dangers that threaten them every day. As far as personality goes, Matt is loyal, headstrong, and down-to-earth. According to Vicki, Matt is the "golden child" of their family, with a good future ahead of him. These qualities make it very hard for other characters not to like him, and he has captured the hearts of several females throughout the series. Physical Appearance Matt is a very handsome young man, who stands at approximately 6 feet tall with baby blue eyes and short dark blonde hair. He has an attractive face and can be considered as the stereotypical football player in regards to his personality and physical looks. Matt's hairstyle over the seasons has remained similar, shortened with not much length except his hair was somewhat longer in the first season. On special occasions, Matt has been shown to gel his hair such as for the 60's decade dance, for a more formal style. His clothing sense is that of a typical teenager, for school as he played football, he used to wear the school Timberwolves jacket however usually wore a range of different colored t-shirts and jeans with boots or sneaker shoes. Lately, he has been wearing checkered button-down shirts with a t-shirt underneath or shirts with an unbuttoned collar. He also wears a heavy jacket with hoods or light weight jackets, both of which are usually a darkened color. Working at the Grill, Matt has a uniform which consists of a dark blue t-shirt and black trousers. On occasions, he regularly wears a dark tuxedo and trousers with a tie. Relationships Tyler Lockwood Matt and Tyler are best friends, and have known each other for a long time. They were both on the football team, and they both also fell in love with Caroline, which strained their friendship for a while. In season six, Matt decides to join the police academy, and gets Tyler to join him. Vicki Donovan Vicki is Matt's older sister, although it often seemed like the other way around since Matt was the one looking after Vicki, due to their mother not being around. Vicki started to act erratically after she turned into a vampire, which made Matt think she was on drugs. After Vicki's death, Matt believed that she had run away, until her body was found. In season three, Matt was able to see Vicki after Esther performed a spell and tried to bring her back, but he had to learn to accept her death. When Matt temporarily died in season five, he saw Vicki and tried to keep hold of her, but she reminded him that she was already dead and let go. Elena Gilbert Elena and Matt had a relationship throughout most of high school, but she had broken up with him after her parent's deaths. At first, it was evident that he still loved her and was jealous of her new relationship with Stefan Salvatore, but they remained good friends throughout the rest of the series. When Rebekah drove Elena and Matt off of Wickery Bridge, she had Stefan save him before herself. When Elena lost her humanity, Matt was the person who had flipped her switch after Damon had snapped his neck while he was wearing the gilbert ring. When Matt said his goodbye to Elena after she was put into a sleeping coma, she told him that she hopes he spends his life fighting for people like himself: human, loyal, and kind. Caroline Forbes Matt and Caroline have known each other since first grade. At first, he didn't like her very much, but they began to grow closer and started a romantic relationship. Their relationship was strained due to Caroline's frequent jealousy over Elena due to her and Matt's history. They start to drift apart after Caroline becomes a vampire, and also after she starts getting closer to his best friend, Tyler. They break up, and although they aren't together anymore, they still remain good friends. Rebekah Mikaelson Matt and Rebekah's relationship was strained at first, especially after Rebekah drove him and Elena off of Wickery Bridge, killing Elena and almost killing Matt. She makes several attempts to make amends with Matt, but he's cold towards her. At Prom, she dances with Matt and tells him that she wants to be everything that he is, which is beautifully human. She tries to be a better person and continually tries to prove it to Matt. After they are in a dangerous predicament with Alexander, Rebekah takes Matt's place on the trigger that sets off explosives. She kisses him and tells him to run so he won't miss graduation. She vamp speeds away, and the bomb detonates, but neither of them are hurt. She then goes off with Matt, and they spend 3 months traveling together before she joins her brother in New Orleans. *Jeremy and Matt (Best Friends, Roommates) *Matt and Bonnie (Good Friends) *Matt and April (Good Friends) *Jeremy, Matt and Tyler (Best Friends; Roommates) *Matt and Nadia (Ex-Fling/Allies) *Katherine and Matt (Former Enemies/Allies) *Matt and Enzo (Enemies) Appearances Season One *''Pilot'' *''The Night of the Comet'' *''Friday Night Bites'' *''You're Undead to Me'' *''Lost Girls'' *''Haunted'' *''162 Candles'' *''History Repeating'' *''The Turning Point'' *''Unpleasantville'' *''Fool Me Once'' *''A Few Good Men'' *''There Goes the Neighborhood'' *''Let the Right One In'' *''Under Control'' *''Isobel'' *''Founder's Day'' Season Two *''The Return'' *''Brave New World'' *''Bad Moon Rising'' *''Plan B'' *''Masquerade'' *''The Sacrifice'' *''By the Light of the Moon'' *''The Descent'' *''Daddy Issues'' *''Crying Wolf'' *''The House Guest'' *''Know Thy Enemy'' *''The Last Dance'' *''The Last Day'' *''The Sun Also Rises'' Season Three *''The Birthday'' *''The Hybrid'' *''The Reckoning'' *''Smells Like Teen Spirit'' *''Ghost World'' *''Homecoming'' *''Our Town'' *''Bringing Out The Dead'' *''Dangerous Liaisons'' *''1912'' *''The Murder of One'' *''Heart of Darkness'' *''Do Not Go Gentle'' *''Before Sunset'' *''The Departed'' Season Four *''Growing Pains'' *''Memorial'' *''The Rager'' *''The Killer'' *''We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes'' *''My Brother’s Keeper'' *''O Come, All Ye Faithful'' *''After School Special'' *''Catch Me If You Can'' *''A View To A Kill'' *''Stand By Me'' *''Bring It On'' *''Pictures of You'' *''She's Come Undone'' *''The Walking Dead'' *''Graduation'' Season Five *''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' *''True Lies'' *''Original Sin'' (Gets partially controlled by passenger Gregor) *''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (Partially controlled by passenger Gregor) *''Dead Man on Campus'' (Partially controlled by passenger Gregor) *''Fifty Shades of Grayson'' * The Devil Inside *''Total Eclipse of the Heart'' *''No Exit'' *''Gone Girl'' *''While You Were Sleeping'' *''Rescue Me'' *''Resident Evil *''Man on Fire'' *''What Lies Beneath'' *''Promised Land'' *''Home'' Season Six *''I'll Remember'' *''Yellow Ledbetter'' *''Welcome to Paradise'' *''Black Hole Sun'' *''The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get'' *''Do You Remember the First Time?'' *''I Alone'' *''Christmas Through Your Eyes'' *''Woke Up With a Monster'' *''The Day I Tried To Live'' *''Stay'' *''Let Her Go'' *''I Could Never Love Like That'' *''Because'' *''I'd Leave My Happy Home For You'' *''I'll Wed You in the Golden Summertime'' *''I'm Thinking Of You All The While'' Season Seven *TBA }} Episode Absence Season One *In Season 1, Matt doesn't appear in 5 episodes: **''Family Ties'' **''Bloodlines'' **''Children of the Damned'' **''Miss Mystic Falls'' **''Blood Brothers'' Season Two *In Season 2, Matt doesn't appear in 7 episodes: **''Memory Lane'' **''Kill or Be Killed'' **''Rose'' **''Katerina'' **''The Dinner Party'' **''Klaus'' **''As I Lay Dying'' Season Three *In Season 3, Matt doesn't appear in 7 episodes: **''The End of The Affair'' **''Disturbing Behavior'' **''Ordinary People'' **''The New Deal'' **''The Ties That Bind'' **''All My Children'' **''Break On Through'' Season Four *In Season 4, Matt doesn't appear in 6 episodes: **''We'll Always Have Bourbon Street'' **''Into the Wild'' **''Down the Rabbit Hole'' **''Because the Night'' **''American Gothic **''The Originals'' Season Five *In Season 5, Matt doesn't appear in 4 episodes. **''Monster's Ball'' **''Handle with Care'' **''Death and the Maiden'' **''The Cell'' Season Six *In Season 6, Matt doesn't appear in 5 episodes: **''The World Has Turned and Left Me Here'' **''Fade Into You'' **''Prayer For the Dying'' **''The Downward Spiral'' **''A Bird in a Gilded Cage'' }} Novels In the novels, Matt's surname is Honeycutt, not "Donovan", and like the series, he is Elena's ex-boyfriend. Vicki is also not his sister in the novels. Matt Honeycutt's father is dead and his mother is only briefly mentioned and is completely dissimilar to Kelly Donovan. Name *'Matt' is a masculine name of Hebrew origin. It is from the Hebrew מַתִּתְיָהוּ ''(Mattiyahu) which means ''"Gift of Yaweh". ''Matt is a variation or short form for Matthew. In the English meaning, it means "Gift of God". *'Donovan''' is an anglicized form of the Gaelic Ó Donndubháin. Trivia * Matt's birthday is February 26, making him an Pisces. *So far, Matt has died three times in the series. **His first "death" occurred in The Reckoning. He drowned himself to communicate with his sister Vicki. Bonnie revived him with CPR. **His second death occurred in She's Come Undone. Damon snapped his neck to turn Elena's humanity on. The Gilbert Ring resurrected him. **His third "death" occurred in True Lies. Silas snapped his neck, because he couldn't control him since he was already possessed by The Travelers. **Matt's first death was "natural" in contrast with his second death caused by "supernatural" causes. This is similar to the character of Buffy Summers who has also died twice. Like Matt, she was drowned causing her first death while her second death was also supernatural: she was killed by mystical energy. * In the books, Matt 's surname is Honeycutt, but in the TV series, his surname is Donovan. * In the books, Matt learns that Stefan and Damon are vampires and that Elena has become a vampire and needs blood. * Matt was almost killed by two of his ex-girlfriends after they've been turned into vampires, the first being Caroline in Bad Moon Rising and Elena in The Rager. * In the series, Matt is aware of four people he knows turned into vampires, werewolf and a hybrid: Vicki, Caroline, Tyler (werewolf/hybrid) and Elena. * In the series, Matt was the second-to-last main character to learn about the supernatural world (before Jenna) and he is the last character to have learned this to be still alive since Jenna died one episode after. * Matt is not the brother of Vicki in the books. In the television series, he is Vicki's brother and takes care of Vicki and his mother Kelly . * In the books, Matt becomes Stefan's best friend, but in the series, Matt is best friends with Tyler Lockwood and Jeremy Gilbert. * In the series, he often shortens people's names, as well as Damon, but with nicknames - ** Vicki "Vick" ** Tyler "Ty" ** Jeremy "Jer" ** Caroline "Care" ** Bonnie "Bon" * Kevin Williamson commented on the character Matt, saying "There's a door there, that we will eventually open, but for now he's human" * Although Matt's feelings for Elena are a major recurring theme in the first season, they have seemed to have completely vanished to make way for his new feelings for Caroline , which become a major plotline in the second season particularly since Caroline is now a vampire. However, in the books, Matt's feelings for Elena never seem to go away and play an even stronger role since he still has feelings for her when he discovers the existence of the supernatural world. * Matt was the first main character who destroyed an Original (Finn) without neutralizing it. (The Murder of One). **Finn is also his first, and only kill to date. * Matt is one of three main characters that has killed an Original. The other two are Niklaus and Jeremy. * In the books, he and Damon interact more often than in the TV series. *Although Vicki was a grade above Matt, she isn't quite a year older then him. * He and Jeremy are indirectly responsible for Elena becoming a vampire. * Before Graduation, Matt had never set one foot out of Mystic Falls. **This changed when he and Rebekah took a summer trip around Europe. *Matt is the first main character to be possessed by someone through Traveler magic, the Passenger spell. *Matt is the first and only character shown to be immune to Silas's mind control, however this is due to him being possessed by Gregor at the time, the presence of another individual inside his mind prevented Silas from controlling him. *In No Exit, Katherine insists that Nadia kill Matt, but Nadia decides not to comply. *Matt is the first non-supernatural character who has shown to have been The other side when killed by supernatural entities while wearing the a Gilbert Ring. He is also the first non-supernatural character who passed through Bonnie upon death. After his third death wearing a Gilbert Ring in Resident Evil , Matt became the first wearer of Gilbert Ring to retain his memory or experience from the other side . *Matt is similar to Damon in respect of their relationships with women. **Both of them had romantic/sexual relationship with Elena Gilbert, Caroline Forbes and Rebekah Mikaelson. **Both of them had close relationship with three members of the Petrova family: ***Damon had sex with Katerina Petrova, Isobel Flemming and Elena Gilbert. ***Matt was the first love of Elena Gilbert and had sex with Nadia Petrova. Katerina had a small crush on him. *After six seasons of The Vampire Diaries, Matt remains the only main human character. *It was revealed that Matt could bench press more than Jeremy. *Who can speak a language Matt Donovan can understand? The Maytag Man can. "Eureka" star Colin Ferguson, most recently seen as pitchman for Maytag, appears in the premiere as Tripp, leader of a local watch group that gives Matt something to do with his time, what with the absence of immediate threats on his life."He came about because we wanted to show Matt thriving in Mystic Falls without supernaturals," Dries said of Ferguson's character. "Every episode Matt is having his life in jeopardy or somebody's threatening to kill him or something. So it's like, 'What's Matt's life like when he can just not have to have a death threat every five minutes.' We kinda wanted to give him a father figure-type, coach kinda guy, so that's where Trip came out of. But it's Mystic Falls, 'The Vampire Diaries,' no everyone is who they say they wanna be, but he'll ultimately become kinda an interesting, layered dynamic character that's not necessarily a good guy or a bad guy. He actually represents I think like a normal person if you're not in love with Damon or Stefan, like a normal person's point-of-view on the whole vampire world." Quotes Tropes *Elena's former boyfriend, hasn't given up hope yet - which makes him a Dogged Nice Guy . *He is pretty much a Generic Guy , with no special qualities - except being human . *Of course, he just wants his beloved to be happy , so he forgives Elena for ditching him and tries to be friends with Stefan. *His life sucks most of the times: We don't even know if he knew his father ;his mother is an Alcoholic who left him for a boyfriend in Florida; his sister Vicki was a drug addict who got turned into a Vampire by Damon because he was bored then staked by Stefan. Ah, and Vicki came back as a ghost. She was persuaded by Esther to try and kill Elena! *Like most of the main cast, he even died once. But he was revived. *By Season Four he is the only one in the cast member to remain human, so he is the Token Human, which in this case is also a Token Minority. *He's often called as The Quarterback, or Matty (Which he is affectionately called by Vicki). * He's Rebekah's Morality Pet *With April and Meredith he is part of Team Normal - the humans without powers that help the super-powered heroes. References Gallery See also Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Season 4 Characters Category:Season 5 Characters Category:Season 6 Characters Category:Season 7 Characters Category:Protagonists Category:Mystic Falls Residents Category:Donovan Family Category:Humans Category:Medium